First Visit to Virginia Beach, First Landing State Park/Research Trip

We've been pretty housebound since the move a few months ago, and I've been getting antsy.  After thinking about the fact that we really haven't explored much of Virginia at all, we decided to hit the beach.  In typical family fashion we decided this about 24 hours before our trip-spontaneity is kind of a family trait for us.  So we started South for what the map says is a three hour drive without traffic (haha!).

There is no such things as "without traffic" around here, but eventually we made it to the boardwalk.  On first impression, it immediately reminded me of other East coast beach towns (especially with the plains flying advertisements over the water).  We found some street parking and made it to the sand, which was extremely hot as it was probably over 90 degrees-perfect beach weather.  The heat drove us straight into the waves. The kids had a great time chasing the waves, Brian played marine biologist (which, to be fair, is one of his degrees) by rescuing a shark egg case, and I enjoyed the shade from the umbrella we rented on the beach.

After a few hours, we headed to our hotel (we love using priceline to find hotels now) and changed and rested a bit before heading back to the boardwalk for the evening.  After hearing the wait times at a few restaurants (I don't do more than five minutes now-a-days) we finally found a place that had some pretty good pizza, and gelato!  We then rented a family bicycle which was kind of perfect for getting around the board walk without our children dictating a slow pace.  We weren't sure we'd fit in the smallest size bike (but didn't want the weight of a large one with only two peddlers), but we did.  Elijah and Thomas sat in the basket the first half, until Thomas started wiggling and we traded him with Theo.  It was great to see all the street entertainment and we even stopped for a bit to watch a one-man play about the Dictator ship wreck that had my boys all captivated.

The next morning, we decided to go for an early hike at First Landing State Park, as we wanted to check out some of the swamps the area is famous for.  Like the nearby Great Dismal Swamp, this state park is come to a very unique bald Cypress swamp.  (Who ever thought I'd want to go to a swamp on vacation... I think I've officially come to terms with being a boy mom.)  We picked up a $0.50 trail guide (the older boys earned a quarter each for playing the quiet game earlier on the road), and enjoyed the very easy hike through this beautiful ecosystem.  Bald Cypress Nature Trail is located right behind the visitors' center, and is less than two miles making it great for the kids.  We tried to carry Thomas in his carrier, but he ended up just being carried in our arms most of the hike.  A good jogging stroller may be able to make it through most of the trail, but we didn't want to try that.  For families worried about the distance of the trail, at least walk back through the boardwalk and check out the beautiful swamp.  It is something.  The Spanish moss, and bald cypress trees with their knees was exactly what you think of when you hear the word swamp.  The boys claimed it was a little scary, but I thought it was perfectly mystical.

We headed back to the beach, this time traveling a little farther away from the crowds down past the oceanfront to Sandbridge beach.  Unlike the West Coast which is a rocky coast with lots of cliffs and tide pools, I remembered the East coast has many more sand bars with bay and ocean sides.  The coastline consists of marshes, swamps, and islands connected by bridges.  I had hoped we could just keep on going down the coast line and venture into North Carolina just a bit (I've never been to this border state of ours), but alas there is a Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in the way that is the end of the road.  If any of our boys ever get really into airplanes though, we can take them to Kitty Hawk because we were so close to it, but needed to take a different route to get into North Carolina.  Nonetheless, Sandbridge was nice, with less crowds (but also less amenities, no bathrooms, umbrellas for rent, restaurants, or shops).  We had a hoard of ghost crabs that were torturing me (though no else seemed to be scared of them) and enjoyed our time, especially making a castle/playpen for the babe.

My husband, ever the scientist, actually brought some glassware down so he could collect some of the ocean water to use in his lab (and good news, he was able to make a marinobacter virus after working late all week after our trip).

(Written July 21, photos added a month later.)

Summer/Before Baby Bucket List Update: Burke Lake Park

I'm feeling a bit of mommy guilt lately.  I had big plans for this summer.  Big.  But, I have really been falling off for the last few weeks and didn't end up getting a lot done.  With this being Theodore's last summer before he starts school full-time (why can't kindergarten be half-day like it used to!) and the possibility of this being our last summer in the DC area since Brian is only on a three year contract, it makes me feel even worse we didn't get to explore more.  But I know I shouldn't feel that badly since my boys really don't expect that much out of summer.  The sandbox, sprinkler, and tiny pool are enough for them at this age.  And throw in the cardboard rocket ship and castle that daddy made to play inside when it's too hot or rainy out and they are all set.  But I still like to get us out and about and make memories with them that extend past our house.  When I wrote a bucket list at the beginning of the summer their requests were as follows:

Elijah:

"Stay at playground all day."
And when pressed for more ideas, "Go to another playground."

He is awfully easy to please.  Luckily we had a bunch of play dates with MOPS and our outdoor art playgroup.  And as long as I had some shade or we went early enough, I was able to handle the heat and we got in a lot of playground time.

Theo:

"Ride the subway into DC and go to the plane and rocket museum.

Look for rocks to add to my rock collection.

Visit Indiana."

Not sure we rode the subway recently, but otherwise I did get his requests accomplished as well.  He also amassed a large stick collection.

My list was a little longer, with new museums and beaches and library programs and picking fresh fruit and splash parks and zoo visits... and in the end we did get a little bit done off my list (especially eating lots of corn-on-the-cob and strawberry shortcake), but not nearly as much as I would have liked.  One thing we did accomplish yesterday, while celebrating Elijah's-last-week-as-the-youngest was a visit to Burke Lake Park in Fairfax County.

I can't believe it has taken us this long to visit Burke Lake Park.  This county park is located fairly close to us and packed with activities, from mini-golf to riding a miniature train.  And as much as my boys have been obsessed with trains (side note-you can get the Caldecott award winning book "Locomotive" on DVD once you are over reading the very long story nightly), I can't believe we haven't been here before!  And I've got a feeling we're going to end up here again on Elijah's birthday in just a few weeks.

Details:
Admission:  $10 per car for out-of-county on summer weekends, free on weekdays
Train ride:  $2.75 each for anyone 2 and over.  The ride lasted a good 10 minutes and was worth it.

 They stayed around and asked the conductor all sorts of questions afterwards.  The engine was aptly named the same as my home county, the Huntington.

Carousel:  $2.00 each for anyone 2 and over.

 

*I could have saved $2 and let them ride the carousel by themselves.  Elijah chose one of the stationary tiny horses and did not need my help staying on.  And Theodore climbed up his horse all on his own.  First carousel they haven't needed help on.

Ice Cream Parlor:  check website for hours, about $3 for a large one-scoop cone of Hershey ice cream (I could have just grabbed another cone from home and had the boys share, it was a lot of ice cream!)

Other activities:  disk golf, trail walking, miniature golf, camping, playgrounds, boat rentals, fishing orienteering, and a 4.7 mile fitness course (my goal is to be able to run it in a few months)

And, of course we played on one of the three playgrounds as well.  A pretty perfect morning for my two little guys.  I wished they would stay this easy to please forever!

Going on a Bear Hunt: Camping in Shenandoah

So the weekend before the Fourth of July we finally made it out to camp in Shenandoah National Park. We have never been able to get reservations before, but decided to just wing it and try a first come first serve site.  Apparently they actually have a lot of these sites that are not reservable.  The night we arrived the area had a thunderstorm and flash flood warning in effect, so the campground was pretty open.  We realize we're a little crazy for that.  But I felt like we'd have some good luck weather wise.

We headed to the nearest campground from the North, which is the Mathews Arm Campground located about 20 miles inside the park.  Needing a close bathroom for the pregnant lady and almost potty trained two year old, we picked a spot in the C loop immediately opposite the bathroom.  And the water spigot.  Apparently, Theo's favorite thing to do when camping is filling any water needs at the spigot.  

And even though we knew to expect rain, the weather was some of the best June weather we could ask for.  We planned to tour an underground cave and do inside activities on the rainy day and enjoy perfect hiking weather of about 65° on the sunny beautiful day.  Some of our favorite parts of our trip were:

Campfire:  Theodore was in charge of the s'more making, while Elijah kept up a cheering section for Brian as he tried to make fires with damp wood.  

Cavern:  There are several options for caverns around the Shenandoah area. We stumbled across a group-on just a couple days before our trip, so we definitely went with that one. We only paid for one ticket for all four of us.  The Shenandoah Caverns were the first time either boys had been to an underground cavern. The one hour tour was just about perfect for them, though I was terrified they would touch some of the structures which is against the law.  They are famous for their "bacon-like" features that were pictured in National Geographic years ago, and have popcorn walls as well.  Elijah pretended to eat most of the cave.  The location also had some other random exhibits including old animated store windows and a huge barn filled with parade floats.  It was odd, but the boys liked just about everything they saw.  Their soda fountain restaurant was also surprisingly cheap and good for a tourist place, though it was pretty packed with minimal staff.

Chip Factory:  While I normally have to stay away from potato chips because I have absolutely no self-control in regards to them, being pregnant is a pretty good excuse to have a few chances to snack on some.  We kept seeing signs for the Route 11 Chip factory and had to stop by since it was right beside the caverns.  They weren't frying during our visit, but if they had been you can view it all from the retail shop windows.  As it was, it was neat seeing all the machines used.  We sampled just about every variety they have and each left with a (small) bag in hand.

Ice Cream:  We don't consider ourselves on vacation if we don't have ice cream.  We found a good place on Lurray's charming Main Street called Stephan's Sugar Shack and each enjoyed a cone of their Hershey ice cream (except Eli, who still doesn't realize he missed ice cream while napping).

Hiking:  While I was pretty nervous to set out on a big hike with me being 32 weeks along, and Elijah still being accustomed to being carried occasionally or having a stroller to jump in and out of, I had faith we could accomplish one last big hike before the baby comes.  Since it was right off our campground, and should be beautiful after two nights of rain, we chose to hike to the tallest waterfall in Shenandoah, Overlook Falls.  We found the trailhead for Mathews Arm Trail at the back of the group camping sites, and took off.  It indicated we were 2.0 miles to the falls.  Eventually, we turned onto the Tuscarora/Overall Run Trail and continued downward to the falls.  The boys had a great time re-enacting "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" (that book never gets old in our house) as we sludged through mud (just a little), climbed over logs (none really covered the path), and carefully danced across rocks over a brook (that actually did cover the trail at one point).  We found just about every color of mushroom possible as Theo is very interested in them.  Elijah was excited for all the "eggs" he found (Brian called them gulls) while Theodore made sure to tell everyone about a bear sighting one of the other hikers mentioned to us at the beginning of the trail.  We, however, did not see one this day.

Eventually we came upon a pretty large waterfall, but not a 93 footer, so we kept going.  The last 0.5 miles of the trail were the steepest but led to a huge payoff as the view at the top was gorgeous.  And then you turn and see a beautiful waterfall!  The dog and I were fairly nervous one of the boys would fall off the cliffs surrounding this area, but luckily we got in a few photos and just enjoyed the cooling rushing winds as we rested all in one piece.  We made it from the trailhead to Overlook Falls in about two hours.  Despite stopping to snack on our way back UP the trail (and Brian carrying both boys at the steepest parts) we actually made it back to the campground quicker. Overall, we spent about four hours out there.

Views:  Being up on a skyline ridge, the whole 100+ miles of Shenandoah National Park offer wonderful views of the surrounding area.  Except when it's foggy and rainy and you can't see much.  But during the sunny parts of our visit we enjoyed pulling off and wondering around some of the different scenic overlooks.  At one point in the drive, we actually saw our first black bear as one crossed the road right in front of us.  We were much happier to see it while in the car than if we had been on foot.

More Ice Cream:  We ended our visit with a stop at the Apple House in Front Royal for some soft serve ice cream and a taste of their apple cider donuts.  Elijah slept through the stop again, even with a train passing right by us as we waited on the ice cream.  It was a good ending to a slightly exhausting, but great trip together with our two boys.